The Peking Gun

Charlie Gimbert asks Lovejoy to value a colonial widow's Chinese treasures, and among the collection Lovejoy finds an unusual Peking cannon, a Ming Dynasty war cannon that has no business being in a Suffolk sitting room. He gets Charlotte's opinion on it, and the piece turns out to carry far more than market value: the cannon has great significance for a local Chinese tong.

Two competing Tong bosses are intensely interested in acquiring the piece, and both are prepared to fight for it. Lovejoy and Charlotte find themselves in the crossfire as the Chinese community prepares to do battle over the historic weapon. An afternoon of polite valuation turns into a standoff over a cannon, and the dealer who started it all is the one who has to keep the peace. It went out in October 1993 with Burt Kwouk, best loved as Cato from the Pink Panther films, playing Mr Ying. Kwouk's Cato spent decades ambushing Inspector Clouseau, so a man who commands a little menace is well within his range. Mike Ripley, himself a crime novelist, was on the writing team, and Patrick Barlow, one half of the comedy duo behind the National Theatre of Brent, plays Professor Chenery.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Mike Ripley wrote it, Ken Horn directed. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Dudley Sutton is Tinker Dill, Caroline Langrishe is Charlotte Cavendish, Diane Parish is Beth Taylor, and Malcolm Tierney is Charlie Gimbert. Patrick Barlow plays Professor Chenery, Susan Brown is Mrs. Dimmock, Burt Kwouk is Mr Ying, Arthur Whybrow is Frank Mussett, and Hi Ching is Simon Chin.

The episode uses a single object to open up much deeper currents of cultural tension and rivalry. A cannon that once belonged to an emperor now sits at the centre of a modern feud, and the value of the thing matters far less than what it means. Lovejoy, who usually deals in meanings, is for once dealing in firepower, and the result is one of the series' more unusual outings.